A little change of pace as we go with a technical minded question this week…
**Question of the Week (9/6/04):
What do you feel is the best type of drive system you have seen utilized in FIRST Competition play?**
Don’t forget, suggestions are always welcome through PM, AIM (QuietRiverRage1), or e-mail ([email protected])
Have fun!
-Andy Grady
The 6 wheel drive base with the center wheels dropped utilized by 60/254/22/47/others.
Incredibly manueverability, while retaining the ability to push robots around
Though I’m very interested in omniwheel holonomic drives and I think they have great potential, the best drive I have actually seen is a 6 wheel skid steer type thing with the slightly lower middle wheel.
Yep.
I agree.
This is one of the best drive systems of all time.
254/60 - 2004
The overall best drive is the Cheesy-Bulldog, or the Bionic-Poof… whatever you call it, it’s virtues speak for themselves.
-One of the fastest drives in the game.
-Nimble, turns on a dime with ease.
-Incredible traction and pushing power.
-Simple and Elegant.
I think a lot of teams will be imitating this in 2005.
Though this is my top pick, I’ve also got some follow ups worthy of mention:
Another cool drive system was 111-2002.
The swerve/tank combo was pretty slick. The best of both worlds.
How about 217-2002.
A swerving CCT? My goodness! Get out of the way.
Hmm… 45’s shifting gearboxes.
They’ve revolutionized FIRST drivetrains, in no small part due to the gracious design sharing by the Technokats. The many generations of these babies have been showing up throughout FIRST for the past 6 years. (New for 2005 folks, buy your own! As seen on TV.)
Also… 45’s “mean” metal treads.
First seen in 1999, these things were scary and effective.
The new “non-metal” rules of 2003 put an end to the reign of the Techno-track.
More kudos to Mr. Grady.
2 AWESOME Questions, 2 weeks running.
Rock on Andy.
John
One more robot to add to John’s list…
ChiefDelphi’s swerve in 2000: They could drive up to their opponents’ goal, steal a few balls, and quickly strafe to their own goal and deposit the stolen balls all in one quick motion. That was a game where a swerve drive proved a huge advantage over any other drive system.
Here’s the beautiful thing–there isn’t one. It all depends.
(tries to imagine all of these great robots sans appendages)
I do like 180’s design from this year. With a wing, that robot could fly. Surface-to-Air Meat indeed.
I haven’t seen it get much buzz in the past month or two, but what about 33’s four-speed automatic?
And, of course, who could forget 1293’s setup from this year? Window motors can do anything. 
Hmm, 6 wheel drive is good, but i imagine the coding is horrible…
We are going to try building a wooden chassis and try different wheel configurations etc.
tank style is always good bet, and anyone who is in the nyc regional will tell you wer were mega fast and manouvarble
Hmm, 6 wheel drive is good, but i imagine the coding is horrible…
Not really it would be like coding for a four wheel drive base. It should stear like a four wheel drive robot too since only four wheels are touching the ground at a given time.
Wait… your drive consisted of window motors?
wow…
Most effective drives that i have seen so far was 6 wheel drive or a tank thread drive… they work great on carpet… for example, SPAM’s (180) tank thread from 2002 (fluffy) and 2003 (twitch) was great, 234’s (cyber blue) tank thread system was very effective this year. As john pointed out before 254 and 60 are perfect example for a 6 wheel drive. Team 33’s 4 speed transmission is awesome, would have been very effective for stack attack game (i havent seen many of their matches this year). Technokats always have a sweet drive train. also reminds me of Captain Krunch’s (79) swerve drive from 2003 (stack attack), and Wildstangs spider drive… 
Yep. Window motors. Just some sprockets and chain, and we were driving.
(In fairness to the other motors, we tried the CIM motors–but the brackets were about to twist off. And the drill motors, when they held together long enough to be placed, just couldn’t fit right. So window motors it was.)
And the funny thing is, our drivetrain worked fine the whole time. I don’t think we had any problems whatsoever with it at Palmetto. (This year, we’re gonna use the same thinking for our arm!)
111’s 2004 drive system. God, it’s BEAUTIFUL! I cried! Sure, it wasn’t the fastest nor the most nible, but it could move across the platform WITHOUT EVEN CHANGING HEIGHT! WOW!
I think I have two favorites, one was actually used. My favorite is the Ball Drive that 45 made last year as a “second robot”. But, one that actually got used was Wildstangs drivebase this year, with omni wheels and the hydraulics to get up on to the platform to hang.
-Kyle
I saw that movie too… It had The Beatles and Jay-Z on the soundtrack… :rolleyes:
Im not good with drive systems but i think a good drive systems that works really well and is great is crab wheels. We had that on our robot this year.
-Court-
The best drive system I ever saw this year was Wild Stangs (111’s)
In sheer complexity, Stang’s double (222, get it) would get my vote.
2003: I don’t remember.
In 2002, Beatty (71) had an awesome drive system, coupled with an awesome robot.
We (461) also had a pretty cool drive system that year, but it weighed fifty pounds and left little weight for an arm. It was a good robot, though, and we even won against beatty in one match.